When it was released two decades ago, it hardly made a splash but find out what makes the film stand out among its more famous contemporaries, including Hideo Nakata’s Ring and Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke

20 Jul 2018 - 2:55PM

When it was released two decades ago, it hardly made a splash but find out what makes the film stand out among its more famous contemporaries, including Hideo Nakata’s Ring and Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke

Nishikawa’s films are filled with frauds, fakes and phoneys, starting with this, her debut, screening as part of the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, in which the secrets and lies of the Akechi family unravel

20 Jul 2018 - 2:54PM

Nishikawa’s films are filled with frauds, fakes and phoneys, starting with this, her debut, screening as part of the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, in which the secrets and lies of the Akechi family unravel

Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies (1988) has been named one of the best animated films of all time; it also has been listed by Empire film magazine as one of the most depressing movies ever. In other words, it's a must-see film that will leave you in a puddle of tears — a reputation that has stopped many people from watching it.

8 Oct 2014 - 10:37PM

Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies (1988) has been named one of the best animated films of all time; it also has been listed by Empire film magazine as one of the most depressing movies ever. In other words, it's a must-see film that will leave you in a puddle of tears — a reputation that has stopped many people from watching it.

When Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature filmmaking in September last year, it was hardly unexpected: the septuagenarian co-founder and resident genius of Studio Ghibli had been retiring and returning for years.

14 Sep 2014 - 12:27PM

When Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature filmmaking in September last year, it was hardly unexpected: the septuagenarian co-founder and resident genius of Studio Ghibli had been retiring and returning for years.

While a cinematic giant in his own country, where his films were commercial and critical successes, Keisuke Kinoshita (1912-1998) didn't receive the same recognition abroad as contemporary Akira Kurosawa or Shochiku studio senior Yasujiro Ozu.

7 Apr 2013 - 3:38PM

While a cinematic giant in his own country, where his films were commercial and critical successes, Keisuke Kinoshita (1912-1998) didn't receive the same recognition abroad as contemporary Akira Kurosawa or Shochiku studio senior Yasujiro Ozu.

Japanese filmmakers reacted quickly to the disaster - but their angle of approach often differed from that of the local mass media, which tended to follow the government line, while taking care never to show the bodies of victims.

11 Jun 2015 - 3:58PM

Japanese filmmakers reacted quickly to the disaster - but their angle of approach often differed from that of the local mass media, which tended to follow the government line, while taking care never to show the bodies of victims.

Ask Japanese film critics and scholars for the names of their country's most important directors of the 1990s and their lists will probably start with Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike and Kiyoshi Kurosawa

16 Jun 2013 - 3:37PM

Ask Japanese film critics and scholars for the names of their country's most important directors of the 1990s and their lists will probably start with Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike and Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Nagisa Oshima (1932-2013) began his career in the 1950s at Shochiku studio as a sort of Japanese Orson Welles - a wunderkind shaking up a hidebound film industry. And like Welles, whose Citizen Kane (1941) eviscerated the biggest media mogul of its day, Oshima enjoyed tweaking the noses of the powerful, beginning with his studio boss, Shiro Kido.

11 Aug 2013 - 5:32PM

Nagisa Oshima (1932-2013) began his career in the 1950s at Shochiku studio as a sort of Japanese Orson Welles - a wunderkind shaking up a hidebound film industry. And like Welles, whose Citizen Kane (1941) eviscerated the biggest media mogul of its day, Oshima enjoyed tweaking the noses of the powerful, beginning with his studio boss, Shiro Kido.